


The things you don't get to hear

by sterrenkijker



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Desperate Measures, Gen, Gun Violence, You should blame Gabriel for this, sorry anyway, this is 2/5th his dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 07:24:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13002777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterrenkijker/pseuds/sterrenkijker
Summary: Plays during "Desparate Measures". Lovelace and Eiffel are trapped in the armory of the Urania held at gunpoint by Kepler.Some things they let you hear, some things they don't.





	The things you don't get to hear

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Desperate Measures](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/344706) by Gabriel Urbina. 



'Don’t listen to him, Commander! He can go to Hell!'

Normally this would've earned him a punch in his side, but since Lovelace's hands were still tied behind her back she could only glare at Eiffel as Kepler continued his speech to Minkowski over the intercom. He smiled to himself.

'He never did stop calling you Commander, did he? Adorable. Alright, here’s the deal.' Kepler turned back to look at his hostages and looked down at them. 'You have five minutes to give me your unconditional surrender, or… I’m going to shoot one of your crewmates in the head.'

'He's going to _what_?' Eiffel hissed, but Lovelace somehow managed to kick his shin to shut him up. He winced in pain for a few moments before he was able to listen to Kepler again.

'Now, I know what you’re thinking,' the man started, before he was suddenly interrupted. Not by Eiffel or even Minkowski, but by Lovelace. She sat upright, kneeling on the hard floor.

'Minkowski, don’t give this piece of human garbage the satisf–'

The deafening sound of a gunshot made rang through the armory. Eiffel had lowered his head automatically but quickly opened his eyes, looking around at Lovelace - who still appeared unharmed and completely able to willing at Kepler's throat. If the gunshot had alarmed her she definitely didn't show it. He slowly exhaled, his back pressed against the wall.

'That... was a warning shot, Lieutenant,' Kepler said softly. 'To make a point about not interrupting when I’m speaking.'

'Holy crap.' Eiffel let out a quivering breath. 'You’re crazy.' He hadn't signed up for this, for any of it. Especially not the "deranged capitalists taking over the station" part. 

Kepler turned around, his eyes suddenly flaring with anger. 'No, Eiffel. I’m just a man who wants to be taken seriously!' He seemed to catch himself because he cleared his throat and spoke again, almost managing to keep the menace out of his voice. 'Now, as I was saying: how can I pick between these two? They’re both so goddamn tragic in their own ways. Hmm…'

_Fucking hell._ He held in a quiet whimper as Kepler stepped towards the both of them and cowered back against the wall. This was really not how he wanted to go.

'Eeny… meeny… miny… moe,' came Kepler's voice from above his head. 'Catch… a tiger… by… the toe. If… he hollers…let him… go. Eeny… meeny… miny –'

'Fuck you. I’m not scared of you. I’m not intimidated by you.' Eiffel's head shot up to turn towards Lovelace. Did she think that provoking him would be a solid idea?! What did she think she was going to get out of this? Time, maybe, but also an even more pissed off Kepler.

'You know the only thing I feel when I look at you? Pity.'

'Captain… this really isn’t the time –' he started, almost desperate for her to stop, but she wasn't listening. She was leaning towards him, staring daggers at him.

'You are so goddamn pathetic! You know why? Because you talk, and talk, and _talk_ about everything that you’re doing for humanity –'

'Captain, you should really –'

'–and you haven’t even realized. Well, guess what? You’re not human. You lost – no, you – you sold every piece of your humanity.'

Kepler hadn't moved during her speech. He just stood there, one heavy eyebrow cocked. He looked like he was either going to laugh at her or kill her any second now. At this point Eiffel felt like he was going to throw up. 

'You’re hilarious. On a multitude of levels.'

'And that’s just one more thing that I have – and you don’t.'

He couldn't take any more of this. He had to stop her before Kepler lost his cool and would take it out on the both of them. 

'Captain, no! don’t do th–'

Again, it didn't work. He prayed that she was up to something, that he just wasn't bright enough to understand her master plan to get them out of this Hitchcockian nightmare. But he could still see the anger cracking through the mask on Kepler's face and he knew that there wasn't a lot of time left. 

'You’re not even funny. You’re just… Hmm. Nothing.'

Kepler finally moved, managing a joyless smile as he stepped towards them, raising the hand that he was holding his gun with and bending forward just a little.

'Well, that’s a very nice speech, Captain. You know what I see when I look at you? I s–'

And then she spat in his face. She'd worked herself up on her knees to look him directly in the eye and spat in his _face_.

In any other situation Eiffel probably would have hollered. Even right now he couldn't help but be in awe of the balls on this woman.

'Franky, Colonel, I don’t give a damn.'

Kepler's smile didn't disappear. He didn't even move for a few seconds, before he slowly wiped his face with his free hand and straightened his back. He laughed quietly and Eiffel watched in horror how Kepler's smile turned into a horrible grin.

'Alright, then. You wanna go nuts? Let’s go nuts!'

'Oh, God...' Eiffel whimpered. She'd unleashed the beast. He glanced at Lovelace, who hadn't even winced when Kepler had raised his voice. Why wasn't she scared? Did she never get scared?! 

Kepler had stepped away from them again to speak to Minkowski, sounding somewhat unhinged and like he was even enjoying the situation. 'Minkowski! I’m gonna shoot Captain Lovelace in the head. And what did I say before? Five minutes? Nah, let’s make it exciting! You have until I get to zero. Ten.'

Fuck.

'Fuck, Captain – say something to him, anything –' Eiffel begged quietly. 'We have no idea what –'

'Shut up, Eiffel.' Lovelace glanced over her shoulder to look at him and he could finally see her face; determined and without any sign of fear. Of course. 'I got this.'

'All the time in the world,' Kepler continued over the intercom. 'All the time in the–' His voice suddenly turned into a growl, 'nine.'

'Please, please, please, Minkowski...' Eiffel muttered under his breath, earning himself a death glare from Kepler, who continued counting down to one.

'Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock – eight.'

_Alright, deep breaths._ Minkowski was the smartest woman he knew, she could figure this out. She probably knew exactly how to keep Kepler from shooting anyone and taking back control. He took a deep breath and pushed himself up against the wall, trying to imitate Lovelace's straight posture. 

'Anything?' Kepler mocked over the intercom. 'Hellooooo? Well, this is getting good, don’t cha think? Seven!'

'You think this is going to work?' Eiffel had finally built up the courage to open his mouth again. This was not the right time to lose faith in Renée Minkowski so he wasn't going to. 'You’re not gonna scare –'

'Three.' Kepler growled at him through clenched teeth and Eiffel could feel his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach.

'Three?! What happened to six?!' His eyes grew wide in panic but Lovelace shushed him for a third time.

'Eiffel, shut up.'

'Coming up on the last chance, Lieutenant,' Kepler said, casually waving his gun around. 'Two.'

They were running out of time. Lovelace was running out of time. He had no idea what Minkowski was thinking or what she was going to do but he was pretty sure that once Kepler got to one –

'Captain, why did you – you didn’t have to –'

Lovelace turned around to look at him and almost smiled. Only she would be this calm in the face of death.

Yes, I did. I did. It’s fine.'

All Eiffel could manage as a reply was a single weak: 'Captain…' before Kepler clicked off the safety of his gun, turning on his heels and pointing his weapon in a single movement at Lovelace's head.

She'd done this to keep Kepler's attention away from him. She'd tried to buy him and Minkowski time and she'd succeeded – but she was going to pay for it with her life. And there was nothing he could do about it.

'One.' Kepler sounded like was trying to hold back laughter and he could feel his stomach turn. 'Going once. Going twice!'

Lovelace just stared down the barrel, jaw clenched, head raised. 

Then he pulled the trigger.

Isabel Lovelace sunk back against the wall of the armory, her head now lying on her chest.

The gunshot still rung in his ears when Kepler broke the silence, but Eiffel wasn't paying attention to him any more. His whole body had gone into shock, shaking from head to toe. He couldn't help but stare at the wound in her chest as blood poured out of it.

'Captain...' he muttered, pushing himself upright. 'Lovelace – Lovelace, please... Oh, God...' He'd forgotten about Kepler, about whatever was happening outside this room. Screw the bigger picture. His friend was dying.

His friend was dead.

He felt like he was going to faint. A bright light flashed before his eyes and somewhere in the back of his head he could hear a loud crash, the sound of someone wailing in the distance far, far behind him.

'Fuck...' His vision got blurry before it could refocus as his eyes filled with tears. He blinked them away, forced his shaking body towards the woman on the floor. She'd fallen over sideways and now lay staring blankly at the wall opposite them. The determination was slowly fading from her face.

Why were the others still going, anyway? Isabel Lovelace had died and nobody had brought an end to all of this – had they not realized what had just happened?

Despite his bound hands and his uncooperative body he crawled towards her but as soon as he was kneeling in front of her he felt even more helpless. There was nothing he could do. Again. 

'You monster...' he muttered, his arched back still turned to Kepler. 'She –'

'"She was the greatest, smartest person you ever knew"? I bet.' Eiffel winced at the mocking tone in Kepler's voice. 'Minkowski had a chance to save her, and she didn't. That's how things like this go. Even you... You had a chance to save her, didn't you?'

Eiffel let out a trembling breath. His first instinct was to agree with him; maybe he could've saved Lovelace if he'd just sacrificed himself. If he'd just opened his stupid mouth and said something, maybe Kepler would have –

'No, I didn't.' He slowly turned back around. 'She knew what she was doing, and so does Minkowski. You're not just going to get away with this.'

'So you still trust the Lieutenant, huh... After all the trouble she caused, you'd still trust her with her life. Do you think that's a good idea?' Kepler nodded towards Lovelace. 

I…' Eiffel made a soft scoffing sound. 'I can’t believe… you really…'

Kepler's voice turned harsh. 'Yes, Officer Eiffel. I really.'


End file.
